DESIGNING FOR DISASTER: HOW TO MITIGATE FIRE, FLOOD AND SLIDE DANGERS

This multifaceted seminar, hosted by LA’s iconic Descanso Gardens, will explore the many ways in which our public landscapes and private gardens can mitigate or exacerbate LA’s potential natural disasters. The seminar will be comprised of two seminars, each featuring a local Sierra Madre expert, which can be taken together or as individual classes.

Mitigating LA’s Natural Disasters with Smart Landscape Choices

10:30-noon, Van de Kamp Hall

Seemingly unstoppable fires raged throughout the west in 2017, and California counted heavy losses in lives and property. Learn what combustible, invasive plant life to avoid, which plants have protective qualities, and which design strategies best protect homes from fire-wise landscape experts including:

From Tragedy of the Commons to Uncommon Fortune

1-2:30 pm, Van de Kamp Hall

Our minds often skip over the spaces between our public buildings and our roads, be they expanses of turf grass, weed-filled or paved medians. These places can be harnessed to increase LA’s resilience, mitigating our fire, flood and slide danger, and also increasing our neighborhoods’ social capital and home values.

Learn how to transform the tragedy of the commons into a powerful tool for building your neighborhood’s fortune. Our expert panel represents communities who have successfully transformed common spaces from the foothills to the beach, from the Valley to South LA. Expert panelists include:

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Visit the Gardens

About the Gardens

The Sierra Madre City Hall Gardens define an authentic landscape aesthetic for the foothills. The lush and leafy gardens deliver year round beauty and save about 75 percent of the water previously used. Featured plants also mitigate fire, retain slopes, and feed wildlife, improving the resilience of both our adjacent wildspaces and the city itself.